What a Beautiful Day
by KLafferty6
Summary: Ten part story, based off of the song "What a Beautiful Day" by Chris Cagle. NH. Rated T for language.


**Title:** What a Beautiful Day

**Author: **Kristen (KLafferty6)

**Summary: **Ten part story, based off of the song "What a Beautiful Day" by Chris Cagle. NH. Rated T for language.

**Disclaimers: **I own nothing but the idea to combine this song with this couple.

**Author's Note: **I absolutely _should not _be starting another piece, what with Little Wonders being in the works and all, but I started a 30 Day Challenge with some great friends and part of my personal challenge is to find time to write at least once a week. I'd talked to my sister **Molly** who thought this was a great idea so I thought I'd give it a go. It'll only be ten parts - no more, no less- and it's all planned out so I'm planning on it being an easy one to write and updated regularly.

I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Day One ~ I stumbled through "Hello" on 5th Avenue

"…Okay Karen. I'll see you for tonight's shift. Hopefully professor boring let's us out on time for once!" Haley laughed as she came out of the café, turning right onto North Front St., headed towards Tree Hill Community College. Looking down to stuff her books haphazardly in her bag, she'd just crossed the street when her body collided with what felt like a brick wall, sending her books flying. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing herself for the impact her body was about to make on the cold, hard concrete when she felt a pair of hands grab her by the hips, steadying her before she could fall.

"Shit! I am so sorry…damn, I got coffee all over my jacket. Are you okay? I was not watching where I was going at all. I'm supposed to be meeting some friends and was trying to get a hold of them. Damn it…"

She peeled her eyes open when she heard the brick wall begin to curse and apologize, his words tumbling over themselves as he rubbed at what looked like a coffee stain on his fleece jacket. She instantly recognized the person she'd run into as none other than Nathan Scott, the king of Tree Hill High where they both attended years ago. She'd never spoken to him, being just a lowly sophomore when he was a senior and Big Man on Campus, but she'd never pinned him to be a clumsy rambler.

"You know," she started, his blue eyes jerking to hers when she spoke. "That coffee will come out of your jacket a lot easier if you blot at it with the napkin instead of smearing it around."

He'd heard her words, though if he was telling the truth he wasn't listening. His eyes were roaming her face, taking in the deep chocolate brown of her eyes, the light blush on her cheeks, the way her mouth curved into a small smile as she spoke. He brought his gaze back to hers, only to find her looking at him expectantly.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." He stumbled, shaking his head lightly at himself. "What'd you say?"

She smiled at him, a quick forgiving, friendly smile and he was certain his heart rate doubled.

"I was just saying that that coffee would come out of your jacket better if you'd blot at it instead of wiping at it; all that does is make a bigger mess. On the bright side, spilling your coffee might not be the end of the world. While their stuff is good, Karen's coffee puts them to shame." She reached out and took the napkin from his hand; her small, petite fingers grazing his. She slipped her hand inside his jacket, bringing it away from his body as she began blotting at the coffee.

"Um, thanks." He mumbled, looking down at her; a small smile finding its way to his lips as he watched her face twist in determination. "Sorry about bumping into you by the way. I'm apparently not coordinated enough to text, walk and drink coffee simultaneously."

"Oh come on, a big basketball star like you isn't coordinated? Shouldn't you be able to walk on your hands backwards and dunk a ball at the same time or something?" She took a step back, examined her work before shrugging; knowing that jacket was going to need a good washing if he was ever going to get the coffee stain out of it.

"I think I'd need my hands to dunk the basketball." He laughed, his smile widening as she shrugged and laughed a long with him. "How'd you know I play basketball?"

"I went to Tree Hill High too Nathan Scott."

He blinked. Certainly he would've have remembered _her. _He'd only just bumped into her mere minutes ago, but he was already drawn into her big brown eyes and knew that her laugh was completely infectious. His brow furrowed as he opened his mouth to apologize for not recognizing her, but was cut off when she waved her hand at him dismissively, smiling all the while.

"Don't worry about it, there's no reason you'd know me. I was a sophomore when you were a senior and we definitely didn't run in the same circle."

"Oh." Nathan replied dumbly, not sure why all of a sudden he was struggling to talk to a girl; he'd certainly never had that problem before. "So if you're two grades behind me, that means you're –"

"A senior in college." She answered for him, thanking him as he stooped and handed her the rest of her books. "Yup. I'm an education major, I was actually headed to class now and not paying attention to where I was walking so our collision was probably just as much my fault as it was yours. I'll be graduating in May – thank God. I swear, for being a tutor and loving school so much, I'm definitely ready to be done with it. Although once I'm done with school I'll have to start working a real job to pay back the thousands of dollars in student loans I owe and oh gee, what fun that will be! I guess I should be grateful I get to go to college though, even if I have to pay my way through and live off of mac and cheese. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I _love_ mac and cheese. Totally something else you should try at Karen's."

He watched her wide eyed, not sure she once ever took a breath as she spoke, and not completely certain she was still speaking to him. He ran his hand through his thick dark hair and just continued to listen as she rambled.

"So do you always –" he started again.

"Talk so much? Guilty; the rambling is totally part of my charm. And I have a really atrocious habit of interrupting and cutting people off to finish their sentences, which you probably noticed since I've done it to you three times in as many minutes…sorry." She trailed off laughing, her face flushing pink and he was sure he'd never seen anything so pretty before.

"It's okay, it was actually quite fascinating to watch. I was counting how many seconds you went without taking a breath; impressive." He laughed, dodging her hand as she playfully swatted at him. He was amazed by the pretty, petite girl in front of him; in a matter of minutes he'd gone from a bumbling fool to completely comfortable around her.

He was pulled from his thoughts when his phone went off, the text from his friend reminding him that he was late.

"Your friends probably don't like to be kept waiting." She pointed out with a smile, glancing from the phone in his hand to his confused face. "You said earlier you were going to meet friends. Well, at least I think that's what you were saying. You, my friend, have some mad rambling skills as well. I mean, you're not quite in my league, but impressive all the same."

"I do not ramble. I don't!" He gasped indignantly, shaking his head in the contrary when she began to laugh and nod. "I was _not _rambling."

"You were _so_ rambling buddy. I would know. I'm the queen of rambling."

"Now _that_ I believe." He smirked, shoving his phone in his pocket when it beeped again.

"You'd better get to them, they seem impatient. I've got to head to campus anyways." She stepped around him, offering him another smile. "It was nice um, bumping into you. Sorry about your coffee!"

Before he realized what he was doing, his hand shot out; his long, warm fingers clasping gently around her petite wrist. "Wait! Um –"

"Haley." She filled in for him, trying to ignore the chills he was sending through her as his thumb stroked lightly over the inside of her wrist. "My name is Haley."

"Haley." He repeated, smiling at the way the name rolled off his tongue. "You said something about mac and cheese?"

"At Karen's." She nodded, pointing to the building behind him; the large glass windows allowing him to see inside the small café bustling with customers. "Best in town."

"Would you um-" he started, laughing at himself and his inability to form a completely sentence around this girl. "I was just thinking that maybe, uh, you might –"

"My lunch break is at noon tomorrow, why don't you stop by?" she asked, hardly unable to hide her grin. Who'd have thought she'd ever have Nathan Scott stumbling over his words trying to ask her to lunch? Who'd have ever thought Nathan Scott would ask her to lunch?

"That sounds great." He said, affectionately squeezing her hand before reluctantly bringing his hand back down to his side. He stepped to the side, allowing her to move around him, smiling at her as she nodded. "I'll see you at noon."


End file.
